Coming alongside the release of the Nintendo Switch early last year (and acting as the final game for the Wii U), it didn't come as too much of a surprise that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild quickly rose up as one of the most critically-acclaimed titles of 2017, and now Nintendo appears to looking to integrate at least some of the game's more prominent features into the series moving ahead, including its emphasis on player freedom.

Speaking in an interview with IGN, Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi provided some insight into the development team's reaction to Breath of the Wild's reception. Specifically, one of the points that they brought up was the way that players interacted with the world of Hyrule and how the game provided players with a new level of freedom that the series hadn't had before.

Fujibayashi explained that "a big theme of this game was that there should be...multiple ways of doing anything," and were even surprised in some instances of how players were being crafty in solving the game's puzzles and challenges that the team "didn't actually predict" would happen, saying that overall expanding on player freedom in Breath of the Wild "worked out."

When asked about whether future Zelda titles might incorporate this level of freedom down the line, Aonuma explained that "the incredible freedom that this game offers you and how well that's been received" spoke well towards the direction of the series. With the game being so positively received, Aonuma stated that "to me...that level of freedom is something that needs to be maintained in Zelda games going forward," and added that "my eyes have been opened to how important that is."

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available now on Nintendo Switch and Wii U.